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Now used for a variety of essential business

functions—from peer-based support to customer

dialogue, education and support, brand-building,

and premium services—external customer and

partner communities have become a company

must-have. When these essential business

functions combine, communities evolve beyond

reducing support costs, driving satisfaction and

building awareness to actually help companies

position themselves as industry leaders.

One such company created a single community that

improved support, delivered educational content

and generated a new revenue stream. It’s a multi-

purpose community that’s helping the company

thrive in the new economy while becoming a

recognized thought leader and industry pacesetter.

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destination is high-quality customer support.

Making sure you deliver the kind of support that

meets or exceeds demands and expectations, is a

must. A customer community can do that with the

Best Practices

From Subscriptions to Support:How An All-in-One Community Helps Position Your Company as a Thought Leader

cost-reducing elements of self-service by leveraging

the knowledge of those within the community.

Founded in 2004, FireEye—a network security

company providing advanced cyber threat

protection—experienced a massive growth and

struggled to keep up with customer support

demands. Extending their limited knowledge

base and siloed support system was both crucial

and critical.

The original goal of the community was to deliver

a service that kept customers coming back for

more. FireEye created a support area for customers

to access their help resources and experts, ask

and answer questions for each other and join

conversations and groups to share expertise.

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resulted in a huge cost-savings to the company.

Implementing this collaborative community

platform enabled FireEye to unite people and

content, and transform the overall customer

experience along the way.

© 2015 Jive Software, Inc. All rights reserved | Jive Confidential 2

It’s been proven that customers who provide

knowledge to other customers are also more

actively engaged in the brand—the kind of

engagement that builds a company’s reputation.

So, cost-savings wasn’t the only plus that FireEye

experienced. The faster response times to

questions and issues also created higher customer

satisfaction and helped build brand loyalty.

A Community That Becomes an Education EngineCreating content that educates and offers access

to expertise is another way to establish trust and

build industry leadership. Customers, partners,

analysts and the media begin turning to your

company as the “go to” source for information

on trends, issues and solutions. A customer

community can be the repository for this content,

a place where anyone can go to get educated.

FireEye created an educational engine within

its external customer community. The company

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their industry—that solve real customer problems.

The general public is able to learn more about

identifying advanced threats, their behaviors

and how to counteract them—and customers can

get valuable training on FireEye products. The

Education Center helps customers implement

products, and prepares them for the reality of

today’s threat landscape, arming them with the

knowledge to defend against it.

“We have become an established industry standard and thought leader. Where do you go if you want to know about cyber intelligence? You go to the FireEye community. The experts will be there.”

John Summers,

Manager of Services Collaboration & Social Strategy

FireEye

Customer communities can enable collaboration by:

• Engaging your entire organization in customer service-based collaboration

• Including a high level of interaction

• Allowing customers to get what they want, when they want it, from the people who are best equipped to help meet their needs

• Delivering valuable content and interactions

• Providing transparency into your company’s goals and what role customers play

• Creating a fun, safe place for customers to share ideas and air concerns

Jive is the leading provider of modern communication and collaboration solutions for business. For more information, visit www.jivesoftware.com

The Education Center also functions as a lead

generation tool. People who register get added

into a larger training management system,

creating an opportunity for the company to turn

prospects into customers.

A company that educates—and generates

potential revenue—secures its place as a leader

within the industry.

A Community That Delivers Unexpected ValueThe pinnacle of industry leadership is delivering

value. When you up the ante by leveraging your

expertise, innovation and solutions, you set the bar

by placing your company and offerings apart from,

and above, the competition. Your company, and

your offerings, become the de facto standard. In

addition to offering a variety of free resources and

support, successful communities can even provide

new revenue streams.

FireEye built a multi-purpose community that

far exceeded the expected ROI of its customer

community. The premium area of the community

is a subscription-based service for customers who

pay for a higher level of cyber intelligence. These

subscribers get pre-emptive alerts to any potential

or actual cyber attack, system health monitoring

reports, exclusive detailed industry reports

and guidance on current risks, concerns and

remediation of known cyber attacks.

This business impact was enormous, with the

community essentially creating a whole new

revenue stream. It also elevated FireEye’s reputation

as a security solutions innovator, thought leader

and a trusted source of information. Value, in the

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customer relationships and helped position them as

an industry leader.

A customer community can become a platform

for everything from public education to thought

leadership, product support and revenue-generating

premium services. Building unique content and

engaging the people who make your company

what it is, becomes a powerful combination that can

catapult your company into the leadership space.

How to use your community to deliver the unexpected value customers are willing to pay for:1. Deliver specialized content and

resources not available anywhere else.

2. Tie content and resources to bottom

line impact for your customers—like

cost savings or revenue generation.

3. Provide personalized, one-to-one,

or support service that goes beyond

base-level.

4. Give subscribing customers a feeling of

“exclusivity.”